Letter: Johnson ignores Indian private sector assist

I recently received my invite to the annual McGovern Day Dinner, “A Celebration of Sen. Johnson’s Lifetime of Public Service.”

Let’s recount his 27-year record in public service.

When Tim was first elected to Congress in 1986, the national debt was approaching $2 trillion. In 2014, it is fast approaching $18 trillion.

In 1996, his first year in the Senate, he stood on the Senate floor and supported the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act, which directly led to the recent recession, and he backed the Freedom to Farm Act.

These two laws have led to the largest transfer of wealth from the American taxpayer to already-wealthy white bankers and farmers/agriculture dealers/corporate ag, most of whom would never vote for Tim Johnson.

Remarkably, the one constituency that never failed to support the Senator was the Native American constituent. Tim credited the Indian vote for his victory in 2002 against John Thune.

Yet, three of the poorest counties in America, where South Dakota Indian Reservations are located, never changed during the Senator’s 27 years of public service. He spent our tax dollars, but the prerequisite was in the private sector, you had to be white and wealthy to benefit.

My question is, for Native Americans in South Dakota, what is there to celebrate?